The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices and more specifically to medical devices for determining or measuring blood vessel size during, for example, an angiogram.
Determining blood vessel size quickly and accurately is important, for example, when treating stenotic vessel with angioplasty or stent. If blood vessel size is incorrectly determined, a stent that is too large for the actual blood vessel size could be selected. Using an oversized stent can damage, dissect or even perforate the blood vessel.
Diagnostic imaging using, for example, X-ray machines, computer tomography machines or magnetic resonance imaging machines, generate images of blood vessels including any narrowing of blood vessels. A clinician uses these images to determine blood vessel size and stenosis. But using such images has inherent limitations. For example, computer tomography imaging accuracy can be affected by sampling, size of display field of view and/or intravascular density of a contrast material. During emergency procedures, computer tomography or magnetic resonance imaging measurements may not be available.
A need accordingly exists for medical devices and methods that improve the process of determining blood vessel size during, for example, angiographic procedures.